It is that time of year again! As we start a new calendar year, individuals and families are preparing to complete their tax returns to finalize their 2023 taxes. It is a costly process for many if they pay out of pocket to have their tax returns filed…money that takes away from the refunds they might receive. This is where the VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) program benefits so many households in our community. Along with the IRS and United Way of Tarrant County, GRACE offers free income tax assistance to eligible households who earn less than $64,000 per year. This program offers confidential services by trained IRS volunteers that make the filing easy. VITA is at the GRACE Main office at 837 E. Walnut Street on the following days between January 23rd and April 13, 2024. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays:  2:00pm to 7:00pm Saturdays:  9:00am to 2:00pm. Simply come by GRACE

Maybe you’ve heard stories of the elevated entertainment the annual GRACE Poker Tournament promises, but the idea of playing yourself keeps you from pulling the trigger. If so, GRACE invites you to enjoy high class without high stakes! For the very first time, GRACE is offering for those who would prefer not to play in the tournament to be a part of the event gallery! As a member of the gallery, you are welcome to enjoy the food, the drinks, try your hand at various casino games, take a lesson in poker to prepare for next year, or just relax and watch the tournament unfold. Available for $100, get your ticket to for an exclusive look at the first of GRACE’s annual events! With the tournament just a week away, the room is almost full, so secure your spot while you still can. Your support of and participation in this

If you’ve volunteered with GRACE at all in the last few months, then you’ve certainly met Anni Hengesbach-Gomes, our Volunteer and Public Relations Coordinator – and one of the latest additions to the team! If you haven’t had a chance to meet her, allow us to introduce her! Anni was born in the Bay Area of California and lived there until she moved to Texas in high school. When it came time for college, she decided to head to the University of Oregon to earn a degree in Sociology. Growing up, Anni had a lot of big dreams – everything from becoming a firefighter to going to law school! She still has big dreams today, including returning to school for a Master’s degree in Sociology. Anni found GRACE through a friend of her mother’s, and she is so excited to be a part of the team! Two things that stood

The 6th Annual GRACE Poker Tournament is just around the corner, and we’d like to take a moment to highlight some amazing members of our community who’ve chosen to sponsor this great event!   King of Hearts  Our first King of Hearts sponsor is BoomerJack’s Grill and Bar! A longtime supporter of GRACE, BoomerJack’s has been serving everything from juicy hamburgers, to crispy chicken wings, to fresh salads since 2002 in locations across the Metroplex. The folks at BoomerJack’s have shared their overwhelming generosity with GRACE over and over again, and for that we are grateful! For more information about BoomerJack’s, please visit https://boomerjacks.com/.  We also thank the Joanne E. “Jody” Matthews Estate, executors Melissa Moss, Edith Lenington, Jill Duncan, and Sharon Pinkerton, for their generous support as a King of Hearts sponsor!  Queen of Diamonds  Showing continued support for GRACE is our Queen of Diamonds sponsor, the Netzer Family Charitable

A new year for GRACE Transitional Housing residents means a new vision. The first monthly meet of the year called for something big – making a vision board to make the vision clear for the upcoming year. Vision Boards are a creative way to remind each of the residents of their goals throughout the year and act as a guide to help them form the path they want to set for the rest of their lives. During the meeting, the group talked about how, after overcoming trauma and stress, planning for the future can be overwhelming and scary, but necessary for a self-sufficient future. Each resident was able to use this first meeting of the year to walk through their goals in a way that gave them space to breathe, process, and come up with achievable goals to accomplish along the path to their ultimate vision. The group also discussed

The GRACE Pantry targets the issue of food insecurity throughout Tarrant County on a daily basis. Food insecurity is defined as the “lack of consistent access to food for every person in a household to live an active, healthy life.” For many families, the cost of food, rent and utilities has increased significantly more in the last year than incomes have which bring many families to GRACE. The number of families who come to GRACE in need of food has increased greatly. Currently, the GRACE Pantry is filling food requests for an average of over 900 visits per month. The total number of pantry visits in the past fiscal year has risen just under 60% from the year before. When looking at holiday food distribution, the total number of holiday food “baskets” distributed during Thanksgiving and Christmas this year when compared to last is a 51% increase. GRACE works hard

If one of your new year’s resolutions is to find more fun ways to support GRACE, we’ve got some great upcoming events to share with you! While we are not hosting either of these events, we have generously been selected as beneficiaries – so your participation helps support the GRACE mission, as well as the missions of other non-profit organizations.  The first event, taking place tomorrow, Saturday, January 13th, is Congregation Beth Israel’s 11th Annual Casino Night Fundraiser! This fun event will feature delicious bites from Mac’s on Main, refreshing beverages, an Amazon gift card raffle, an assortment of casino games to play, and a live auction! Sponsorship opportunities are available, starting at $250, as well as individual tickets for $25. All tickets include access to the aforementioned festivities, as well as gaming chips to get your night started! Doors open at 6:30pm, with gambling beginning at 7:00pm – and

This week, GRACE Community Clinic kicked off the 8 Week program “Viva Bien! Live Well with Diabetes” cooking classes with Tarrant Area Food Bank. With 18 individuals in this program, this free, innovative, and bilingual program is a series of eight weekly sessions with hands-on culinary demonstrations. These hands-on courses are taught by nutrition and culinary instructors who volunteer to teach nutrition, cooking, food budgeting and shopping techniques. Additionally, participants are given cook books with a variety of healthy meals included to practice and perfect at home with their families. Exercise topics are also included to assist in better managing or preventing diabetes. Tarrant Area Food Bank offers these courses in collaboration with Partner Agencies like GRACE and other community organizations that agree to host and promote courses to their clientele.  Is excited for the impact this class will make and we look forward to educating the next round of

Looking for a place to start in making memories and forging new experiences in the new year? Why not come out and volunteer at the GRACE Community Garden!  For the past 13 years, the GRACE Community Garden has been providing our local community with fresh produce. But that’s not all.   If we shift our attention away from the specifics— the mulch or the weeds, the squash or the cabbage or the cucumbers— and take a step back, we can come to see that the GRACE Community Garden is truly an embodiment of the GRACE mission. The act of coming together and putting one’s own time and energy into something that extends beyond oneself and into our community.   Overseen by Caryn Hutchinson, Robert “Bob” Dansby, Becca Clarke, and Edie Miller, Garden volunteers plant a wide array of crops, tend to the garden beds, weed, mulch, and much more. Last year, their